Photo Week 19: Tall Chief Golf Course

Could not have asked for better weather on Saturday for golf with Erin. We ventured out to the Tall Chief Golf Course, near Snoqualmie, because of the $16 for 12 holes greens fee (we ended up playing 12 more holes for $4 after our first 12!). This course is one of the first 18-hole courses I played growing up, but in the last 15 years the owners apparently had to sell off six holes to keep the golf course going. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from a 12-hole golf course, but from what I remembered about the course, it seemed like a pretty nice one--especially for the price. Sure, there were a few muddy spots (the ball is white...):



And a few of the greens had rough patches in them, which reminded me of lava or water in video game putt-putt. But for the most part, the course was kept up decently. Erin and I each grabbed a beer after a lackluster (re: terrible) first nine holes, and finished them by the end of the next hole. We broke for lunch after 12 holes and had hot dogs and some more beer, and decided that we needed redemption for our shitty first 12 holes. I shot a 73 and she shot a 69 on the front 12. Respectable scores for 18 holes... not 12!

We tipsily walked back up to the 1st tee box after lunch and she hammered a drive down the right side of the fairway, getting ooohs and aaaahs from onlookers. I stepped up to the tee and topped my first ball into the tall grass below, then teed up a second ball and did the exact same. Damn. I salvaged a six on the first hole this time around, and she parred it.

Our second round (or back 12?) was amazing. One of us shot bogey or better on every hole except for the 10th, and we both double-bogeyed that one (she three-putted and I hit two trees). We rarely duffed shots, we were both consistently hitting our drivers 200+ yards, and all felt right in the world. A complete 180 from the first 12.

I tallied up our scores on the drive back to Seattle and she ended up shooting 10 strokes better on the final 12, for a 69+59=128. I shot 18 strokes better for a 73+55=128. Dead even. There were two reasons for me being anywhere close to her score. The first is that the ladies tees and mens tees were always about five yards apart (go gender equality!), and I birdied the 9th hole on the second go around, chipping it within a foot, and I actually parred that same hole on the first go, pitching the ball from about 40 yards away within a foot--my two best shots of the day.

Looking forward to more golf!